A Griffin Report special feature
September 2017
The Top 40
Rising Leaders
Who are the food leaders of tomorrow? This, our third annual “40 Under 40” list, an offshoot of The Griffin Report’s popular annual “Women of Influence” compilation, identifies those up-and-coming leaders. Some are members of families who own companies and have grown up in the business, some are those whose talents and contributions already have garnered them recognition early in their careers. Many of our nominees this year have unique backgrounds and gave us interesting answers to our questions. A couple that stand out are Tara Bonds Ponnett of Ahold USA and Tom Tomaselli of Price Chopper/Market 32. Tara is VP of assortment strategy and merchandising support at Ahold USA. When asked about defining moments of her career, she mentioned learning her leadership skills from her father, and discovering her own personal strength when she lost her father to cancer. She also mentioned that her leadership style continued to evolve after the birth of her sons as she worked to integrate her personal and professional life. “As a result of these moments, driving engagement and development have become priorities, instead of only goals and achievements. I believe in the contributions of my team, and their ability to succeed at home and work. I hope the changes I made impacted the way my team members will lead, how they see their potential, and their confidence in the choices
they make to own their paths forward.” Her advice for upcoming professionals: “Find something that you are passionate about, not just good at. That has made the difference in my career, and I have truly loved coming to work with my teams to move the business forward. Being passionate about what you do will give you the courage to reach for what you want, and the confidence to be successful in those roles, personal or professional.” Tom has worked for Price Chopper for 25 years, even though he still has not reached 40 years of age. He started as a bagger and is now VP of center store, grocery, GM and HBC. He has interesting advice for upcoming professionals: “The supermarket business is built on core fundamental business functions, and there are critically important functions to learn from each position along the way: bagger, stock clerk, manager, etc.…I recommend that upcoming professionals understand the business from the ground up. Additionally, I have had the privilege to learn from many great leaders within the company and throughout the industry. I have always studied the best characteristics each of them possessed and try to both incorporate them into my approach to the business and in my efforts towards leading the team.” Turn the page to find the stories (and more sage advice) from our 40 Under 40 honorees. —Mike Berger/editor-Northeast
in the Grocery Industry
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